A Norse Adventure : Dragon Rampant

Even further behind than normal on blogging and whilst the preparation for my Albanich game was taking place we were still playing a number of games, so I need to catch up.

A Norse Saga of fur and fury........

Somewhere in a small farming settlement the villagers gather for a Winter celebration. Many of the best looking ? village women have met to look for prospective husbands whilst the menfolk drink and practice their archery ?. In these wild times everybody knows you are never completely safe and they keep their weapons about them....there are worse things than other vikings in the forests !

The villagers enjoying the festivities

 The villagers wait expectantly for their guest of honour Jahl Ragnar to arrive. Suddenly there is a scream, not unusual during a feast but something is wrong. At the the edge of the village an unusual mist is moving across the ground as it gets closer more screams and shouts are raised the gods have brought beasts from the ancient forests to steal away the village maidens.  

Cloaked in mist a giant Mountain troll attacks the village

 The villagers huddle together to protect themselves but suddenly they realize they are surrounded and creatures are attacking from all directions.

A yeti and a cave troll appear.....who would be a viking !

 The villagers only hope is Jahl Ragnar and his armed men, hearing the screams his is rushing with all his might to the village but if they are not quick all they will find will be blood and destruction. (We played a Lion Rampant scenario pretty much straight from the book, both sides equal in points the women as the objective in the centre of the village can't move....at this point it actually looked like the game was over !)

Jahl Ragnar urging his men to hurry forward

 Some of the villagers have fled, surrounded on all sides by fierce monsters, wolves and creatures, but Ragnar's men are made of sterner stuff and they were able, just to reach the village and charge the yeit before it ate the women or worse !

Hardy vikings hold the smelly yeti back....but for how long ?

 Ragnar needs to get as many of his troops into the village as possible.

Better armed troops are lagging behind.....close enough ?

 It almost seemed the creatures were being controlled by a greater mind and eventually it showed its face a horned creature the embodiment of Frey the Horned hunting God.

The village surrounded can Ragnar save them ?

 The game was surely up cowering in the centre of the village the good womenfolk await their ugly doom.

What goes through a Yeti's mind when it sees such lovely ladies ?

 But now Ragnar still unwounded has at last reached the village many of his men have given their lives to hold the creatures back, can he make the final difference ? He charges against the yeti creature and with an amazingly piece of real luck manages to bring it down with his double handed axe. 

Ragnar brings the yeti down

 But as he wipes the blood from his axe his attention has been diverted, a scream from behind alerts him to further dangers, already exhausted he staggers across getting the women to stand behind him. But now both the final Troll and the braying horned creature are also wounded.

Stand behind me !

 In his wounded state the troll proves too much for Ragnar who falls at the feet of the village women. But the Troll is also wounded and Ragnars' final unit are able to chase it off with spear and shield.

Charge for Jahl Ragnar !!!!!!!!

 The wolves are now also chased off and a final charge from Frey the horned beast is also pushed back.

With a ROAR the horned creature slinks back from the shield wall

This left the remaining unit at the centre of the village with the tired but very grateful womenfolk tending their wounds.

It was a great game very close right to the end even though it looked like it was all over after one turn. I will be blogging some more dragon rampant soon, but so far these battled have shown how flexible the rules are.